Why the war over Planned Parenthood will hurt the GOP in 2016
Last night Republicans in the Senate failed to overcome a filibuster and pass a bill that would end all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. As the Post’s Mike DeBonis reported, “Defunding Planned Parenthood is now a centerpiece of the Republican agenda going into the summer congressional recess, and some hard-liners have said they are willing to force a government shutdown in October if federal support for the group is not curtailed.”
Attention, Republicans: Next year, when you’re appalled that Democrats would charge you with waging a “war on women” and you’re fretting over the gaping gender gap that threatens to make winning the White House impossible, think back to this moment.
This defunding effort follows on the release of secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists, in which staffers at Planned Parenthood discuss transferring fetal tissue to what they believed were legitimate medical researchers. While conservatives have tried to allege that the group is “profiting” from the sale of such tissue — which is only done with the consent and cooperation of the women who donate it — the videos actually make clear that the group charges only a small fee to cover their expenses.
But the truth is that anyone who thinks this new defunding push came about because Republicans are so terribly opposed to the sale of fetal tissue for medical research is spectacularly naïve. This is part of a long war against Planned Parenthood that goes back decades.
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